After multiple deployments to Iraq, I came home carrying the weight of those experiences. Like many veterans, I was dealing with PTSD and trying to figure out how to move forward while feeling disconnected from the life I was supposed to be returning to.
I did what you're supposed to do. I went through the military mental health system. But the reality was inconsistent. Therapists changed constantly due to PCS moves, and it was hard to build any real continuity.
Eventually, I was referred to a local therapist, David Newbold. He introduced me to EMDR and suggested art therapy. I remember laughing and telling him I couldn't even draw a stick figure.
That's when he said, "Then don't draw. Try photography."
At the time, it didn't seem like much. But not long after that, I found myself standing alone outside with a camera, taking photos of nature. Nothing dramatic. Just quiet moments. Light coming through the trees. A still landscape. For the first time in a long time, my mind slowed down.
I wasn't thinking about the past. I was focused on what was right in front of me. That moment stuck with me.
What started as something small turned into something much bigger. Photography gave me a reason to get out of the house. It pushed me to reengage with the world. Eventually, it led me to start photographing people again, reconnecting in a way I hadn't been able to before.
It wasn't just a hobby. It was a way forward.
After leaving the military, I decided to take it seriously. I enrolled at Salt Lake Community College and earned a degree in photography. While I was there, I competed in the SkillsUSA national competition for commercial photography and won at the national level.
But the biggest impact wasn't the award. It was understanding what photography had done for me and what it could do for others.
Over the years, I've seen too many of my brothers and sisters in arms struggle. Too many go down destructive paths. Too many fight their battles alone.
Photography helped pull me out of that, and I knew I wanted to bring that same opportunity to them. That's why I created Combat 2 Camera.
Combat 2 Camera is built on a simple idea: give veterans a tool, a skill, and a community. Photography creates space to focus, to reconnect, and to rediscover purpose without the pressure of traditional therapy.
It starts with a camera. But it leads to something much bigger.
This mission is personal. It comes from lived experience, not theory. Every workshop, every connection, every story is rooted in the belief that healing can take different forms, and sometimes it starts with something as simple as learning to see the world again.
One frame at a time.
To connect directly with Troy, email troy@combat2camera.org.